The Russian government is eyeing the Arctic as part of a new federal tourism programme aimed at expanding the country’s tourist industry.

Including the Russian Arctic, the government has named 15 tourist destinations designated “promising”, based on its draft federal targeted programme, which stipulates a set of measures to establish national tourism clusters from 2019 through to 2025.

“The selection of regional projects promoting the development of the types of tourism that reflect the specialisation of the 15 promising travel destinations should become the programme’s defining defining feature,” said the draft.